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Fatal bus crash in southern Brazil, 21 dead

05 March 2011 16:53 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. At least 22 people have died and 23 seriously injured in a major accident between a bus and a truck along the motorway in Santa Catarina, south of Brazil, Buenos Aires Herald reported.

The driver of the truck was killed instantly, as the vehicle crashed head on head with the passenger bus. The truck had been carrying wooden planks, which may have had an impact toward causing more damage in a crash that caused the death of 21 passengers, informed local police.

There were more than fourty people aboard the Nyland bus when it crashed at 3AM local time, along federal motorway BR282, close to Descanso, west of Santa Catarina state.

The wounded were taken to the Regional Hospital in Sao Miguel West, to be treated.

Brazilian Federal Police had put into place a special extra force called Carnival Operative, with 9,000 men working to try to prevent accidents on the roads during festival and carnival season. They are to continue working until next Wednesday across the whole of Brazil.